Happy Sad Confused - Curry Barker

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

OBSESSION has rewritten the Hollywood rulebook and one man is responsible for that -- director Curry Barker, all of 26 years old. Since his under million dollar horror feature debuted last month, the film and Barker's reputation have grown week by week. Josh catches up with Curry in the middle of this amazing run to find out what it's like to have THE film everyone is talking about, getting shouted by Steven Spielberg, getting offered projects like TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and maintaining artistic integrity even as offers come flooding in. #happysadconfused #joshhorowitz #obsession #currybarker NOTE: This conversation contains OBSESSION spoilers! SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! Rula -- Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rula.com/happy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #rulapod Quince -- Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for free shipping and 365-day returns. Limited Time Offer–Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code happy15 at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://huel.com/happy15.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! UPCOMING EVENTS! 6/16 -- Matt Smith in NY -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠⁠⁠ 6/22 -- Millie Bobby Brown -- ⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I knew I wanted to make something that was kind of iconic. I know I wanted the one Wishwillow to be iconic, but I didn't know if it would work or not. And apparently it is, and you can only hope. And I think that this movie has moments, too. Like that get you to say you got it. I'll go watch this movie again if you come with me and I want to watch your... Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now.

Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, the director of the moment, the movie of the moment, we have Curry Barker talking obsession today. Hey, guys, welcome to the show. Thanks, as always for checking out the podcast. Remember, hit that subscribe button on YouTube on Spotify. fly whatever podcast platform you're using.

I appreciate you guys. For those of you that caught our last episode with Stephen Spielberg and Joshua Connor and Emily Bunt, thank you all so much for the kind words. As I said on that episode, it was a hugely important one for me, and I'm so thrilled people seem to be digging it. And this one, and it's kind of a fun flip side.

So the Steven Spielberg thing. Steven Spielberg directing for the last 50-plus years dominating Hollywood. And now we have the next wave, Curry Barker. Um, obsession is the film. It came out about a month ago. And if you follow this stuff like I do, and many of you probably do, you know that obsession has not only been well reviewed, what people love it. This is kind of just a great, well-told, funny, smart, dark horror film. But it's also attracting this amazing audience that keeps going, keeps going back, and brings in new people.

The box office rose, I believe, in the first three weeks, which never happens. Literally, never happens. It just keeps going and going and going. And it's a real shot in the arm to the industry and honestly pretty inspiring when we're, we keep talking about like IP and like, oh God, another superhero movie. And yes, I love superhero movies. You guys know that. But like to see something original, succeed, build an audience, build a young audience, prove that there are new ideas, even if it is kind of like a classically told one, is really exciting. So I'm thrilled Curry Barker, joined me on the show today. He's got a bright future, and this is a spoiler chat, I will say that.

So best to have watched Obsession, don't, what are you bothering with? See Obsession. You probably have, but just make sure you see it before this conversation. Okay, before we get to Curry, quick reminders. A couple events coming up very, very soon in New York City. if you're hearing this hopefully in time, June 16th. That is Matt Smith. Ninety Second Street Y.

Tickets are still available, I think just a few, but it's going to be great talking to House of the Dragon and much more. And then in about another week, we got Millie Bobby Brown coming out for Millie Byron. She's coming out for herself, but no, for Noah Holmes 3. And of course, we're going to dig into the end of Stranger Things and much more. Very excited to have her on the podcast for the very first time. Of course, all of those announcements and early access can be found on our Patreon, Patreon.com slash happy say I confused, bonus materials, early access, merch, autographed posters,

all sorts of cool fun stuff. Support us over there. It helps us make more over here. Okay, enough preamble. My only regret on this one is I couldn't catch up with Curry in person. It didn't quite wind up, even though he was ironically in New York. But we did it, we did it virtually, and it was a great chat, and I really, I really was like, I don't know, just enthused talking to him because he's smart, he's funny, and he's, and he's, He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he's clearly got the goods. So enjoy this conversation. Like I said, best to have seen obsession.

Because what are we doing here, guys? This is a spoiler chat. Enjoy this conversation with the next big thing. It's Curry Barker. Very exciting. This is the man of the hour. We have Curry Barker on Haphy Say Confused. Curry, it's great to meet you.

Sorry, it's not in person. But welcome to the podcast, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Sorry, it's not in person. next time next time this is we're building the relationship from from the ground up um scale scale of one to ten how crazy surreal is life at the moment for you i mean i think it's a 10 i think it's as i don't i think it's a 10 i really don't um and this is like a sad thing to think about but i i

think i don't think this this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for for really for anybody but definitely you know once-in-a-lifetime thing for a filmmaker's journey i think um you I can only ever strive to be to have this opportunity again and to have, you know, so it's, it's going to be me chasing this feeling for the rest of my life. Well, let's not, let's not start from a negative place. Let's let it enjoy. So what was what was the best case scenario in your mind for how this was all going to play out in terms of reception, commercial, critical, what it did for your career compared to where

we're at, we are today? Best case scenario, and I'm not even kidding. I was thinking, watching the cut of this film and the state of it, I was thinking probably, you know, we're going to get on Shudder and we're going to, we're going to, hopefully people will like it on Shudder and maybe it'll grow some sort of audience on Shudder that, that would have been best case scenario in my head. Yeah, yeah. And like for most filmmakers, it's often like, do I get to make another one?

Is it enough that I get another chance, maybe a little more money if, or not? But do I get to do it on my own terms again? Right, right. That's, that's kind of, you're 100% right on that. And I, I was in a scenario where, where I had just written my next script with Cooper and it was called anything but ghost. And it was something that we were really passionate about. And Jason Blum came along. And this was before, this was before TIF.

Or Toronto, right? Yeah. Yeah. And he said, hey, I'll do your movie. I'll do, I'll do a budget. And we were like, what? Amazing. Okay, we'll do it.

And so, yeah, I mean, it was, you're right. It was that mindset of like, oh, my gosh, I just hope I get to do another film and being, and so I was excited when that opportunity came around. Well, it's, I get why they put their money on you after seeing the film. And before it kind of, it sold and had everything that happened because it's undeniable. That's why we're sitting where we are. today, it just, it just works. Movies, you know, like, Tom Hanksup, like famously said, like, movies are like ones or zeros. The other work or they don't work.

This movie just works. So, congratulations to put it mildly on what you accomplished here. Thank you. We're going to rehash some of the stuff I know you've talked about ad nauseum, forgive me, but like the story behind us is, is pretty remarkable. I mean, to give a little context to folks, you make this film where it is, it's about 750K, certainly under a million bucks. It goes to Toronto.

You have this amazing screening there. Focus picks it up more, $14, $15 million. And that's really just the beginning of the story because, you know, I live and breathe this stuff. I'm looking at box office and seeing how people are receiving it. But as you know by now, this story is insane. Like it opened great, amazing, but it built. It's been building and it is still at or near the top.

While, with all due respect to Star Wars and other things, others are coming and going. What are you, I guess I'm asking like six different versions of the same question, but like what do you make of how this movie is being received and why it has the stickiness it does? Obviously, you were proud of it, but what's your, what's your gut telling you about why it's sticking like it is? I'm not, I can't, I can't really put my finger on.

I think, I think it's got, it's got a, a catchy, like, like, like, a song that has a catchiness to it and you want to keep playing that song in the car. I think there's something catchy about this movie. It's got a catchy premise. It's kind of relatable. It's about, it kind of, it's got that thing where you could dress up for Halloween as it. It's almost these new characters that people are excited about. You know, we've seen Freddie Krueger and Michael Myers and all these things and

but what happens when there's a new new character and I think Nikki, Freaky Nicky is kind of that new character and people are kind of sticking to that and the One Wish Willow is kind of a sticky, sellable item that people are really excited. People are getting tattoos of it. So I knew what I was doing. Like I knew I wanted to do that.

Yeah. But I didn't know it was going to work. You know what I mean? I knew I wanted to make some. something that was kind of iconic. I know I wanted the one which Willow to be iconic and and

but I didn't know if it would work or not and apparently it is and you can only hope and I think that this movie has moments too. Yes. Like that get you to say you got to, I'll go watch this movie again if you come with me and I want to see

you experience that exactly. Yeah, yeah. Which is all my favorite movies do that. Like I'm a big movie goer I take my friends, if I love a movie, I'll go watch it again to go take them to see it as well. So, no, I think you're capturing, you're, you're hitting all the right points. Like, what are, what are, let's start with this? Like, what are the moments in the film there are a bunch? But what are the ones you enjoy seeing an audience lose their show?

Obviously, major spoilers here. We're now in spoiler territory. Everybody's seen it. Yeah, got it. Yeah. I would say the, you know, the, the, the first moment I love to see is when she, when she comes back to the car and I'm like

oh you know I always look out for that and then the second time is when she freaks out in the bed and she falls off the bed like that's the that's the second time and then the third time um I'm always looking forward to is

the dinner scene which is kind of all over the internet so I feel like but but at first it wasn't So I was always looking forward to that moment. Yeah. And then the next scene is the, the, there's so many, I guess. But the bedroom scene is super creepy. I can't, I can't leave the theater.

Like, sometimes I've, I've been like, I'm just going to sneak in and, like, watch a few minutes and leave. But then, then I'm like, well, I might as well wait for the bedroom scene and see how people react to that. Yeah. What's been your favorite, like, reaction, specific kind of reaction, someone saying something to the screen or the way. someone's reacted in the theater. I mean, I saw this just the other day, like a Tuesday afternoon and people were talking to the screen. That's the power of this movie. It's, it's bizarre.

My favorite is, I think, um, is like, it's, it's, it's one thing to get people to react to horror. But to me, my most proud reaction is when you react to bear. I, like, I saw this big reaction when, when bear just can't get the courage to ask her to, to, to tell him how he feel, tell her how he feels. And she's like, that's it. Like, tell me, do you have feelings for me? And he's like, I think we're good friends. And sometimes I hear a verbal, no, or like the audience going like, dude, what the hell?

And like, that is way cooler to me that like in the first 20 minutes of this movie, I was able to get like a verbal thing out of the audience of like, that's so hard to do that. as a writer. That is hard because Yeah. That's an emotional connection. That's not trading on a jump scare or anything. It's just like connecting with a moment.

Yeah, exactly. We'll be right back with more Happy Sank confused. The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust.

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as he unravels baffling enigmas and solves clever cases. Patrick Pickle Bottom Everyday Mysteries is perfect for kids and is just as entertaining for grownups who love a good mystery. The whole family can listen now wherever you get your podcasts. You talked a little bit about like wanting to create iconography, as it were, the new Freddie Kruger, the new, you know, like the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the world that people can graft onto. I mean, I think one of the interesting things that you did is, you know, this is a creative choice, part of it's maybe out of necessity. You had a budget. You can't, you know, have major special effects. But were you very purposeful in kind of not over-explanning the magic, the war behind it? Was that a, it was that a, was that a, was it? Is that something on your mind? Yeah, and that's something that I want to carry with me. I mean, as the money gets bigger and the budgets get bigger,

just because you can doesn't mean you should, right? And just because you have enough money for that huge big car explosion now, it doesn't mean you should do that huge big car explosion because if it's, like, I want to, I worry. I mean, I'm just going to kind of hold myself to it. I worry about as the budgets get bigger, the, I mean, of course, course there's things that money gets me that I can oh my gosh I could do this I could do that but I also think that there's a lot of positive and not being not showing the face or not showing

the characters or sometimes that that that the low budget filmmaking is getting creative and figuring out ways to be an effective storyteller without using big fancy things and that's been so helpful for me so I just almost want to like hold on to that and like carry that. with me. So you just need to kind of keep repeating that in interviews like this so that we have so many hours of tape of you saying that so you can hold yourself accountable. We can throw it in your face when you're like, you know, this one's all CG. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, Halloween this year is going to be special for you. You know, Nikki's going to be a major Halloween character. Are you ready for that? Yeah, I'm so excited. Maybe like this is not confirmed at all. Nobody's told

me this. Okay. But like it would be cool. I don't know where you do you live in L.A.? I'm New York, actually. Oh, okay. So, but in L.A., Halloween Horror Nights is like a huge thing. Of course, yeah. And it's universal. And I'm like, bro, maybe freaking Nikki should have a booth at Halloween Horror Nights.

Are you, are you a Halloween Horror Night enthusiast? I go every year. Yeah. I go. Yeah. What's your favorite one they've done connection? Oh, that's good. What they do last year?

I really liked. I mean, oh, the terrifier one last year was pretty gnarly. Yeah. Yeah. So now you're also in this moment as people are kind of catching up,

and I was late to the party. I'll admit it. I was late to the party that I caught up. That the broader world is experiencing it and filmmakers are experiencing it, that Steven Spielberg is saying, I've seen obsession and I loved it. Yeah.

Did you have a heads up on that? Or was that just something you saw in your feed where, like you see it. I saw it like the world saw it. I just saw it on my feet and was like, whoa. Yeah. Yeah. Has he reached out yet? Have you reached out? Have you sent flowers? Like, what's the, what's the protocol when Steven Spielberg says, you've made a great movie? Um, the protocol is everyone and your, everyone in your family reaching on being the holy shit. And, um, your team being like holy shit. But, but also just, uh, Like, no, I haven't, I haven't reached out. He hasn't reached out. I would love to reach out. But, yeah, I mean, I'm excited to see Disclosure Day.

And I'm such a huge fan of Stevens Bilberg. And he's really inspirational to me. And others have reached out too. Yeah, like filmmakers, actors, you must be hearing from folks, right? Yeah, I mean, I know Paul Thomas Anderson said a lot to focus. about it. Dude. Yeah.

Yeah, dude. I mean, it's endless. I mean, Ariaster, me and Ariaster, I've been, like, texting a lot. Like, we're friends. It feels like we're friends now. It's just so cool. Zach Kregor, I went to dinner with him in Fedé, Alvarez, the other night, and you're just shooting the shit and talking.

And it feels like I'm part of this, like, community of directors now, which is, which I didn't even know existed, really. Like, I didn't know. But they all kind of hand. out welcome to the club you heard the Spielberg talking about he like paints like figurines like yamra d'oros house on the weekends maybe you can get in on that group yeah yeah yeah what about i mean i you know as well as i do people are also you know grouping this film with back rooms and like that that phenomenon behind that one do you know cane at all i mean you guys

have a much different kind of aesthetics and approaches but you are of a similar age group etc yeah i i i I don't know and personally. We met very, very, very briefly at the backroom's premiere where that hand-shaking photo was taken and no one knew that photo was being taken. But we, yeah, we very briefly said hi. And we haven't talked since. And we both follow each other on Instagram. And we haven't, we haven't.

I want to reach out to him, I think, very soon because I think we're both kind of, like going through something very similar and it would be nice to confide in someone in this moment and be like, dude, we're kind of both going through this together. Like, how are you feeling? You know, let's talk. But yeah, it's not, yeah, we just haven't yet. And I think he's still on his press tour and I'm still on mine. And I'm also, we're both busy. And so.

Yeah. I assume you were a fan of that film as well. You were at the premiere. So you saw it, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So in terms of like, Does it feel like night and day of like how you were being perceived in the industry?

Like if I talked to you a year ago and you were accomplished, look, like online and, you know, on YouTube, like millions and millions of views and, you know, certainly had accomplished a lot. But I'm wondering if that was transferring into like rooms, you know, studio meetings or agent meetings and that kind of a thing. Does it feel like things have shifted? No, I mean, I've had, I've been, I've been like secretly taking some pretty, I've been in like the the traditional space secretly for like I would say two years of like taking meetings I was I was even when I was developing obsession I was developing another movie with another company kind of and like I was taking all the generals meeting with all the companies. I mean I've just kind of been like one foot in for a while and even when obsession was.

was finished, people knew, knew who I was, like, people knew what I was trying to do. Was that, that was mostly off of the chair's success, I would imagine. Yeah, yeah, the chair really brought a lot. And then milk and cereal brought a lot. Like, after the chair, I started shooting obsession, but then milk and cereal came out while I was shooting obsession. I think people, yeah, like, milk and cereal put me in the public eye for the, for the industry. I know, like, the mainstream was thinking of me as a YouTuber, for sure, but the industry has been thinking about me, I think, for a minute, you know. Yeah.

What do you think, like, the lessons, the good lessons are to be learned of, you know, obsession and backrooms success? Like, there are, there, there are, there are going to be some bad takeaways from this. And they're, they're, they're, we're going to take the good takeaways. What do you think the good and the bad is to, to, to be learned from these two successes, you think? I think people, um, the lesson is that Gen Z, will show up to an original film.

Maybe that's all that needs to be said, like that we will show up to a film. And I think, I don't think it's about IP necessarily. It's not even about, you know what? It's not even about being original or not being original. It's about, I think we're all really hungry for good stories. Yeah. And we're kind of, I can only speak for myself, but just like a little, like, tired of, like, rush, like, films that feel rushed or, like, overly produced and stuff.

Like, we want good stories with good characters and, like, even, even good filmmaking. We miss, I miss Steven Spielberg. I miss, like, like, getting obsessed with the way they shot it. I mean, you know. Yeah. Yeah. That's the most inspiring thing that I came away from watching your movie, honestly, is I watched it and I was like, this is a filmmaker. And he's kind of a classic filmmaker. This isn't like, this is, these are classic techniques he's using. He's just doing it very well. He's a patient filmmaker. He's confident. He knows the shots. There's a real, there's a real surprising and exciting confidence for you being a young guy, if I could say that, for this feature. I know you have a lot of hours under your belt, but there's something. It's still different of a, you know, a long form like this. So, I mean, it would seem to me from the outside looking at, I'm not an expert on you.

I'll cop to that. But like, you clearly grew up with the classics. Like you've, you're, you know, obviously you're an internet YouTube generation, but like you also know and love, you know, the Spielbergs, the John Carpenter's, the shamelons, like all of those, I would imagine. Yeah, definitely. I mean, my, a lot of my inspiration is can be contemporary as well. I just tend to really love, you know, directors that are filmmakers like Ari Aster or, and, you know, these, there are, there are the rare films that feel so filmmaker-driven that I am drawn to. But also, yeah, growing up watching Indiana Jones or Jaws and being like, oh, man, like that monologue is. so good and like and we don't cut and we're just it's raw performance and uh yeah i think people

really i i hope that people still really because it's you don't want this art form to die i mean i don't you know and and no it's no pressure it's all on you now you but this is a good side i mean it's so like to name drop i literally just had spill bird on the podcast which as you can imagine was like blew my mind. Wow. Totally. Right. And, and we talked, actually, funny you're saying this. Like, we talked about oneers, actually, like continuous shots. And his actually aren't, they're not those famous, like, De Palma 15 minute ones. They're really kind of, like, contained. They're about, kind of the perspective and block, exactly, about blocking. And again, I'm not going to say you're Steven Spielberg, but like, you're blocking. Like, you, there's a real, like, like, like, how much of, of what I see

obsession is on the script page like you're writing it you're editing it you're shooting it my sense is like you know pretty much exactly what you want it to be right yeah start i mean i'm i'm editing it in my head when i'm writing it so i'm thinking about i'm thinking about i'm an editor right and i think that's helpful because i'm thinking and then we're going to cut to this and then we're going to cut to that and you know it's like um at the end of the day the movie's already kind of made and don't by the way things change of course a lot of things change yeah i'm not saying i have it all figured out but um i have i'm very planned out about what i want and and actually um in ghosts we're we wanted to push that further like there there's some coveragey scenes in

ghosts but like we wanted to focus i really wanted to do blocking um and like have the care maybe the camera is still, but the characters become the blocking, or the blocking becomes the coverage. Like, what starts as a wide shot, has the actor turn. Now it's an over the shoulder. Then that person walks closer. Now it's a close up. But the camera hasn't cut, but it feels like it's cut because it's such dynamic blocking, right? And that is kind of the Spielberg thing.

So you alluded to a little bit of influence. I'd like to dig in a little bit more. Give me a sense, like, whether it's films that you've seen more than any other film, I don't know if games have influenced you, stuff you grew up on YouTube. Like, can you give me a little bit of a, give me the menu that created Curry Barker that I talked to today. Yeah, let me think. Like, what are the posters? What were the posters up in your wall, that 15?

What's in heavy rotation on TV or film? Yeah, I think Yeah, well I had dude I had so many I was a huge Harry Potter fan Yeah So I had Harry Potter posters on the wall And then I was a big Kingsman

Like I really liked the Kingsman movie Growing up That was a big one for me Posters I mean I was a big horror guy I really liked horror I watched a lot of horror movies music.

Dude, I was one of those kids that would like, my Spotify was filled with soundtracks for movies. Like score. Yeah, yeah. Like, I would listen to, I mean, I would listen to Hans Zimmer.

Yeah, I would listen to... James Horner, John Williams. Yeah, literally all of them. And if I saw Spider-Man or whatever and I liked the score, that was probably my life for the next two months was me just like listening to that score. It was kind of, you know, music is really important to me.

Yeah. And yeah. Is there, I mean, again, one of the exciting, I'm excited to talk to you at this juncture because, like, yes, you have the other film in the can and I'm excited to see that, but they're also going to be new, you know, tools in the toolbox for you to play with. And that's more budget, yes, but that's also like different kinds of actors. And I know you all already worked with Aaron Paul and Dress Dallas Howard, we're two greats. But like, you know, are, is there a list of people that you have in your head that you want to collaborate with right now, whether it's actors, musicians, producers, etc?

Definitely. I mean, there's people that I really look up to. I mean, kind of random, but like Bill Hater, someone I've looked up to for someone I've looked up to for. so long. Well, that tracks. I mean, like, the comedy, a filmmaker. He's doing a horror movie now, I think. I think he's at least, right?

Yeah. And Nathan Fielder. Great. I don't know what it is. I'm just like, I love that guy. Like, I just, and, I mean, obviously I want to work with, there's so many, so many actors that

I'm excited to work with. I almost don't want to, like, go down the list of, like, who I do. Like, but, like, I'm inspired by, uh, the works of, of, of those two. And, um, you know, Tim Robinson is very interesting, funny guy. His, his, his show, the chair company is insane. Yeah. Have you seen it? Yeah, of course.

Yeah. Oh, it's so, like, just out of this world weird and. Right. Yeah. Right. It's got, Tim Robinson. in, I mean, and Nathan Fielder's the same way. It's like, it's like, it's like,

cilantro for people. They either love it or it's like, they can't. It just doesn't work for them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Well, I love it. It's right up my alley and it's... Same.

Yeah. More happy say, confused coming up. Life moves too fast. Squalling, swiping, headlines, sound bites. Nobody's really seen. Even the people everyone thinks they know. I'm Evelyn.

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Listen to True Crime Campfire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Friday. So can we tease a little bit more about anything but ghosts? Because this is going to be an interesting companion piece from what I gather. to obsession. I mean, it kind of reflects a little bit of a different side of you that's already kind of out there for the, again, folks that have seen your shorts. But is this heavily comedic? You're obviously starring in it with Cooper. But you also do bring in some, you know, big time Hollywood movie stars. So what can we expect from this one? It's, um, it's different than obsession.

And I think like there's a lot of anxiety about it's always, something I never felt and I was just, you know, excited to do something different and new. But when you see this amount of success on a film, you can't help but get some sort of like, you start comparing it and start asking if it's got the same beats that work in this. Does it work in? And so, but it's not the same movie. It's, um, and good. Like, I'm glad it's not.

Uh, but it, it, it leans more comedic than obsession. I'm not saying it's a full on comedy because it's, it's not. but it leans way more into the comedy because because of the premise it just it's by

by nature it just is a funnier movie because it's it's two guys that are ghost hunter con artist and they're not they're they're fuckers you know like they they they mess with people and and

so by nature it's a funnier movie and my character is like kind of selfish and he doesn't doesn't realize how selfish the things that he says are sometimes. Like someone has to kind of be like, dude, you realize how like selfish you sound right now? And it was fun to play that character. And Cooper is kind of like the more grounded, like, but you can feel Cooper's character kind of like pulling away from the, from the job.

You know, he doesn't want to do it anymore. I don't want to spoil anything else. But yeah, I mean. It's good. I think it's funny. Like, I totally get, you start to second guess yourself. You're like, I just had this huge success. And now it's like, of course, everybody wants the same thing over again.

They want obsession two tomorrow. But I think in the long run, it's going to be really great for you to kind of show everybody the world. Like, I have a couple different tools in my tool chest. And yes, they're cut from the same cloth, but they're, you know, I can do different things. Yeah, yeah. I hope so. And I hope, I hope. And I mean, it's, it's got some shock.

I'm, um, it's definitely it's, but I don't want to say anything else, but it's got still, it's still, yeah. Speaking of things you can't talk about and I know like you, I don't even know if you've written one word of Texas Chainsaw Massacre yet. Have you written one word yet? No. No. No. Like the process of getting that. Like, did you go in with a pitch? Like, did you go into 824 and say this is my take on it or what happened? No, no, I just, I just, um, I wanted to do it. I'd, I'd express some sort of. a, um, like desire to do it. And, uh, my team called me and said they want to give it to you. And I was like, what? That simple. Yeah. That's simple. Um, I, I have a take on it and I'm really,

here's the thing. I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't have a really cool take on it. And, and if I didn't think I could do something different. Uh, I mean, I don't want to say different. Because it's, it's, it's, it's still going to be about. Right. People on a road trip and, and, but I'm just going to like lean into things in a weird, like, a way that that's way more raw and fucked up than not in the original. The original already does that, but I guess I'm going to lean into the original is what I'm going to do, you know, and, um, you're not going to go into that, that, that trope that sadly,

I think Hollywood did too much was just like to explain the villain and like, he's okay. Like, he was just a damaged kid. It's okay. Yeah, he just misunderstood. Good. Yeah. I mean, if he is misunderstood, fine. But that's not what the movies should be about.

Right. That's not interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he probably is misunderstood. But like, he's also killing people. So we can't really kind of mut that much slack.

Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. So are you going to play Leatherface as Cooper is Indy? Who gets to play in the leather face? Indie's going to play Leatherface. I mean, right? Why nothing?

Let's backtrack to the film because we have, we didn't. dig in enough, I feel like, on some scenes and performances. We mentioned indie. I mean, there are a couple of private products of this film. Indy is a star. Like, indie is an absolute megawatt star. I can't imagine what's going to come to her now. So you cast her, you had confidence.

But, like, are there a few sequences, moments in the film that stand out to you where she took your breath away, where she elevated the material? Yeah. I mean, I definitely remember the scene in the, in the, uh, the scene that has just gone viral because it was a clip that we posted of her at the restaurant. I was sitting

in a booth, watching it on the monitor. It was probably like her second take and it's the one in the movie. But it was, I was, I specifically remember looking at the monitor and I said action and she just, she said no and she held it for this.

And I'm thinking I'm like, hold it, hold it, hold it. And then she says, no. and I'm like, oh my God, this is good. This is good. Please, like, let's make this. Like, because sometimes it's like half the take's good. Like the back half of the take is good, but it was a take.

And I was like, come on, hold it. Hold it. Like, follow through with me. Follow through with me. And then she like, no, no. And she got up. And I was like, oh, my gosh. And it was like, wow, that was great.

But you know what I mean? There was no denying it. Like, it was just great. An iconic moment is born. Amazing. What's the, what? There's a lot of fucked up stuff. in this movie. What's most fucked up to you? What do you take the most pride in? Like,

what's like, you know, people getting their faces bashed into a steering wheel, dead, eating dead cats? Like, I love it all. But what's, like, give me your ranking. What's, what do you find the most fucked up? I mean, you, I, first of all, I think it's, it's so super fucked up that she, like, tricks bear into getting rid of the body with her, but then takes it home. and like to use it against him, like, and undresses her, places her in the kitchen and uses it as a manipulation tactic. And that, I mean, like, to make him go through, she knew what she's doing. Like to make him go through the, the heartbreakingness of getting rid of a dead body,

but then not even doing that. And like being like, just kidding, I'm actually going to keep it and use it again. against you. That's pretty underrated fucked up. Like, I don't, I don't heard anyone talking about that. That speaks to the other fucked upness in the film that that got kind of like, yeah, we'll forget that one. But you're right. Now that you say it, yes. Well, I'm trying, yeah, and obviously, I'm purposely trying to think of things that people haven't, I haven't heard people talk about. Right. But, like, another one is like that, um, I had another one, like. Well, I mean, I'll say one that people obviously talk about. I mean, the whole.

The moment when you hear her inside still we hear her say, kill me in that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is a collective moment in the audience where you're like, it's just a gasp, like, oh my, oh my God, she's still there. She knows what's happening. Totally, totally. And that's, that's, I mean, it's so fucked up. And also, like, the fact that she was just standing there while he was at work for how long is a shift, eight hours? plus the car ride home and nine hours.

She was just standing there. That's a long time for a human being to stand. Like there's things that you don't even really, really think about what she had to do and what she was doing, you know. Right. It seems like you have the thing about head trauma. I don't want to put you on the couch, but there's like I see, I saw, I was watching the chair.

This obviously, what's, like, what do you think about? Is that something that's a lingering fear of like blunt force trauma to the head? Maybe so. Yeah. I think so. I can't even deny that accusation. It's true. I have the, I feel like it's a common, it's kind of common and even just horror in general.

But yeah, it's kind of common for me specifically. So, yeah. The creation of that, that car sequence of Sarah's death is that, I know that was kind of the ratings board issue, right? That's the one part you had to trim down a little bit to get the R. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah. So again, like what I think you really accomplished very well in this is like you build to that. Like there are some horrific imagery and escalate, but it's an escalation. You don't go full on go on gore until that. That is that. That's like that's calculated too. I would imagine in the screenwriting like we're going to, we'll get there. And then when we get there,

we're going to go all the fucking way. Yeah. And that's kind of, I think that proves to, I think what that should prove is that, um, horror movies don't need a ton of deaths. They just need effective deaths. Like, you can watch a slasher where each character gets killed off one by one. And, um, and actually, and it can be effective. Like, I'm not going to bash that. That's literally what Texas change is.

Um, but like you, but it has to be, you have to be like emotionally, invested in the characters and you have to like care about them dying. And so we have by that time we've invested in Sarah too. Like we're like we that's why yes, it's horrific, but it's horrific also because we care about her. Yeah. And we and we care like even if we've even if we've accepted that bear is a bad guy at this point in the movie, you still care about his journey because you've just been your or

care maybe isn't even the right word. It's just you're invested. Right. I heard. I heard you say how like the entire film, except for like one thing is, is in his perspective. Like you are with him. So that's the power of film, as you well know, right? Like you, whether they're kind of like sketchy or not, if you ride with them, you're with them.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Same thing with like Joker. Like, you don't rake. It's not that you care, you care about him. You've just invested in this guy. And you're like, you care about, you want to. to see him succeed because you're invested, not because you care about his well-being, really. I don't know.

Right. No, that makes sense. So we alluded to this earlier. We talked a little bit about the lore. But like, did you, like, have you taken the time to kind of like write down a mini Bible about like the one wish willow and the rules of this universe? Or are you doing that now? Does it matter still? Especially as people want to make more in this, in this universe?

Um, I haven't really. I haven't like, right. I mean, I do have some. I think in my notes somewhere that are like, but they're so simple. It's like, you know, you make a wish. The only way to break it is to die. There's no takesie-backseys, you know. There's, I think there's a certain amount of rules on the back of the box.

I think one of them is like you can't wish for someone to come back to life, which I might retcon that. I don't know. Like, I'm not going to. It's so little on the box. I might just be like, that never happened. don't read the puck. I don't know. I made too many rules almost like that I'm like, but I wasn't thinking I was just like,

what could I fill the back of this box with? That's kind of interesting. Right. So where are you at? Like I know you're still riding this out and you've got the next film. But like there must be conversations and people urging you to say like, we need to do more with this. So are you, how protective are you of the IP now?

And what and what do you want to, what do you want to do with it? I want to do a sequel and then I want to do a show. There's a lot to be done. And here's the thing. If there wasn't anything to be done, I would be the number one guy advocating to never make a sequel. And I think I can understand that for like certain films where it's like, look, this was the story and there's nothing left to be said.

I have a lot of respect for that when filmmakers come forward and be like look I know there's a lot of money in it but we're not doing a sequel because X, Y, and Z. This just happens to be a premise where there's a lot more to be done. Because it's not like it's not really a sequel.

It's just a new guy or girl with a one wish willow and what did she wish for and how did that mess up her life? You know, and there's so many stories to be told. Right. But not, not. And your predilection is not to do. anything with the surviving characters as it were.

It's more to just the premise that can be applied to other situations. Yeah, I have zero interest. I mean, honestly, you could, you could make it take place in the same world. Like, you could maybe have like Easter eggs that like, they went to, oh my God, look, that must have been, or Nicky's on the news. I don't know, even if. Which I heard is kind of applies in the new film, right? There's a little bit of an Easter egg back to. this and anything but ghosts as I understand.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and it's just because we had, there is a news portion of them. Like, I'm never going to go out of my way to like, oh, and then she passes, and then the character passes this video store and on the video store on the news. And then the camera pushes in on that. Like, no, it has nothing to do with the story. But if there's a situation where we happen to be watching the news up next, you know,

this happened which just it just happened stance that it was able to like fit its way into the next one so I do want to know more about the customer service guy and I will and I will tell you

I was writing in my notes I was like I love this act I'm not just blowing smoke I was like this performance whoever this is is amazing and then I kind of Darren the no no I'm telling me you on the phone that's you isn't that oh oh oh I thought you're talking about at the crystal shop no no I'm talking about

on the phone the one Wish Willow Helpline or whatever it is. And you, correct me, I'm wrong, you're playing that guy on the other end of the phone, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I truly, I was like, my notes, like, whatever this guy's serving up, I love. Like, I don't, I like to stick on this. Is there more to that character? Could we ever see who this guy is?

No, I don't think we'll ever see him, but I feel like it would be funny to redo, like, for a sequel, if someone calls the hotline should be the same guy. 100%. You know? 100%. But that wasn't like a plan, by the way. Like I just shot the movie and I was in my room editing it and I needed a voice for the phone. And I didn't feel like finding someone or hiring someone.

All this stuff gets so complicated once you have like sag become sag and everything. So I was just like, I'm sag. I'm in my room. I've got a microphone. I'm going to go in my closet and I was like, hey, what's up? And like we just kept it. You know? I love it.

No, it made me laugh so much when I found that it was you. Okay, we're going to end here. We had every happy sag confused with a profoundly random questions, Curry. You ready for these? Mm-hmm. Are you a dog or cat person? Dog. Clearly from the film, you have a vendetta against cats.

I don't know. I like cats. I just, if you're asking if I'm a dog or cat person, I'm the dog person, but like. Me too. Yeah. What do you collect, if anything? Glasses. Okay.

You have a favorite video game? favorite video game of all time? Uncharted. Nice. What do you think of just generally speaking? You just bonded with Zach Craig or he's doing Resident Evil. This is the new IP, as you well know, is, or video games. People have caught up to it. Is that something that's like, is there a video game that they could call you up with that

would entice you? Yeah, in terms of. Probably. Like, not that I can. Because I feel like video games are sometimes really. really good concepts for movies and I'm like, oh man, I wish that was a movie and now that's kind of a thing. That's a great question.

I'm just not, I'm not a huge gamer so I don't know, but like Friday the third or like five nights at Freddy's even like I would have probably went a different direction with it. But like that that would have been something cool or or yeah, I'm trying. I don't know. Well, no, it's cool. I mean, and from what I gather, Zach's not be, you know, it's more of the world the vibe than the war of the game. And I think that's a smart way to approach some IP sometimes, right?

He's really smart about that. He's really smart for approaching it like that. And he's still loyal to the games and cares deeply about the source material. He just, he didn't want to do the game. And I think that's really smart. What's the wallpaper on your phone? It's the obsession background. Nice.

You're obsessed with the obsession. Yeah. And in the spirit of happy, say I confused. Who's an actor you see on screen that always makes you happy? Hmm. An actor I see on screen that always makes me happy. You're in a better mood immediately. Oh, good.

They're in this. I'm happy. Oh, who? That's a great question. And I have them. I have them. Dude, there are. And it's usually not like the biggest guy.

Yeah. But it's like, oh, this guy's in this. I love this guy. It's like a Steve Busemi character actor or something like that. Like a... Right. What is it? Who did I,

what did I just watch even? Um, I wish I could, like, maybe I'll text you later. Good. We'll add it in post. All good, man.

Movie that makes you sad? Uh, movie that makes me sad. Ooh. Um, that movie, that movie with Robin Williams where he goes, where he dies and he goes to heaven and, you know,

Oh, he, what he goes after his, um, his, his, like, the wife who,

like, commit suicide? Yeah, Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's, yeah. Dreams may come, what dreams may come. Yeah, yeah, what dreams may come. That movie's sad as hell.

Yeah, yeah. And finally, a food that makes you confused. You don't get it. Why do people eat that? Like seafood. I don't get it. Just generally. Offster, shrimp, no.

I don't get it. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Deach his own. Curry, this has been a blast. I, you know, mega congratulations. I mean, it's one thing to have a six.

And it's like, you know, things succeed for different reasons. But again, when I saw it, when I got to the party a little late and I saw what you had, I got it. So I'm so thrilled that we connected today. And I'm so, so, so excited for the future for you, man. And I'm sure this will be the first of many conversations. So thanks again for the time today. Thanks, Josh. Man, I really appreciate it too.

Thanks for having me on. And I look forward to talking again. Yeah, in person next time. Yeah, exactly. Thanks, man. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad. confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley and I definitely wasn't should do this by Josh.

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